1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to medical devices, and more particularly, to wireless communications in medical devices.
2. Related Art
Medical devices have provided a wide range of therapeutic benefits to patients (commonly referred to as recipient's) over recent decades. One type of medical device that has provided substantial benefits to recipient's are hearing prostheses. Hearing prostheses process ambient sound to supplement or provide hearing ability to a hearing impaired patient. Hearing prostheses include, for example, hearing aids, cochlear implants, middle ear stimulators, bone conduction devices, brain stem implants, electro-acoustic devices and other devices providing acoustic, mechanical and/or electrical stimulation.
One specific hearing prosthesis is a bilateral device or system that includes two hearing prostheses, one positioned adjacent each ear of the recipient. In a bilateral system, each of the prostheses provide stimulation to enhance a recipient's perception of sound. Bilateral systems also help eliminate the head shadow effect by essentially enabling the recipient to selectively listen to sound received by which ever one of the prosthesis is positioned so as to experience a better signal to noise ratio. Additionally, inter aural time delays and level differences provide cues as to the location of the sound source and may assist in separating desired sounds from background noise.